Hi. I'm Rowe Jones, a former chronic pain sufferer. This site is all about supplying you with the latest information on chronic pain (headache, back pain, arthritis and fibromyalgia). I also want to help motivate you to help make your life a little brighter.
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What's In OTC Painkillers? Most Americans Don't Know
#Painkillers, #Pain, A surprising small percentage of Americans know what their over-the-counter painkillers contain, researchers from Northwestern University in Chicago revealed in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Most people do not even bother to read the labels, the authors wrote.
Lack of awareness and interest in the ingredients of painkillers could be a key reason why overdosing in acetaminophen (e.g. Tylenol) is major cause of acute liver failure in America. Over 600 OTC and prescription medication have acetaminophen in them.
Health Buzz: Meditation Is Effective at Relieving Pain
Meditation might beat morphine as a painkiller, new research suggests. In a small study, healthy medical students attended four 20-minute sessions to train them in “mindfulness meditation,” based on techniques such as focusing on breathing and banishing of distracting thoughts. Before and after the training, participants underwent brain scans with a pad heated to a painful 120 degrees attached to the back of their leg. They reported a 40 percent decrease in pain intensity and a 57 percent reduction in pain unpleasantness following their training. Morphine and similar drugs typically reduce pain by about 25 percent. Meditation reduced activity in key pain-processing regions of the brain, according to findings published Wednesday in the Journal of Neuroscience. “We found a big effect,” study author Fadel Zeidan, a research fellow at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, said in a press statement. “This study shows that meditation produces real effects in the brain and can provide an effective way for people to substantially reduce their pain without medications.”
When Pain Interrupts Your Sleep
Whether it’s from a sore lower back or throbbing tooth, pain is hard enough to deal with in the light of day. But pain at night that robs you of your much-needed sleep can be downright exhausting.
“An individual simply cannot get comfortable to fall asleep due to the discomfort of pain,” says Frank. J. Falco, MD, who specializes in pain management and sleep problems in Newark, Del. Plus, pain causes anxiety, which disrupts sleep even more.
In addition to preventing a person from falling asleep, pain also results in difficulty staying asleep. And once pain keeps you awake one night, it is likely to do the same thing again and again. Pain-related insomnia gets worse over time.
If pain keeps you up, take comfort in knowing you are not alone. According to the National Sleep Foundation, two out of three people with chronic pain have trouble sleeping.
Many types of pain can interrupt sleep, from the chronic pain of arthritis to the acute pain that follows surgery.
“But no matter what the cause, it is the intensity and quality of the pain, not necessarily the type, that determines the impact on a person’s quality of life, including sleep,” says Falco, who heads Mid-Atlantic Spine and Pain.
Tylenol Recall
The trouble continues for Johnson & Johnson, the maker of Tylenol. Yet another lot of its adult pain relievers have been recalled voluntarily because of complaints about a strange, musty odor.
Johnson & Johnson’s McNeil Consumer Health division has now announced it is recalling one lot (roughly 34,000 150-count bottles) of Tylenol 8 Hour Extended Release Caplets.
“McNeil is taking this action as part of our ongoing surveillance and monitoring efforts that identified a small number of complaints of a musty or moldy odor,” McNeil said in a statement.
The company said it believes the odor is caused by trace amounts of chemicals called 2,4,6-tribromoanisole (TBA) and 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA).
Pain and heartache are bound together in our brains
Like a jab in the arm with a red-hot poker, social rejection hurts. Literally. A new study finds that our brains make little distinction between the sting of being rebuffed by peers — or by a lover, boss or family member — and the physical pain that arises from disease or injury. The new findings are published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Researchers from the University of Michigan, Columbia University and the University of Colorado put 40 individuals who were brokenhearted by a recent breakup into a brain scanner and watched as each dumpee gazed upon a photo of his or her dumper and pondered the hurt he or she felt at having been spurned. In separate scanning sessions, the subjects had the laboratory equivalent of a hot poker held to the forearm (an 8 on a 10-point pain scale).
Health Tip: Walking Helps You Stay Healthier
It’s somewhat obvious that walking is great for you. This is a gentle reminder.
Myths About Treating Chronic Pain
When you have chronic pain, it’s hard to sort out the myths from the facts. To feel better, are you supposed to rest in bed or go jogging? Should you talk to your doctor about trying potent opioid painkillers or should you steer clear? Is it worth trying that “miracle cure” that your co-worker absolutely swears cured her sciatica?
Chronic pain is a serious and debilitating condition. Many people suffering with chronic pain are so desperate for help that they’re willing to believe anything — and as a result buy into some chronic pain myths that could be unwise and even dangerous.
Top Causes of Chronic Pain
People with persistent pain often think of themselves as suffering from a specific ailment, whether it’s arthritis, back pain, migraines, or something else. But anyone who has experienced pain for several months or longer also happens to be among the millions of Americans with a condition known as chronic pain.
Chronic pain is a complex condition that affects 42 million-50 million Americans, according to the American Pain Foundation. Despite decades of research, chronic pain remains poorly understood and notoriously hard to control. A survey by the American Academy of Pain Medicine found that even comprehensive treatment with painkilling prescription drugs helps, on average, only about 58% of people with chronic pain.
12 Ways to Treat Chronic Pain Without Drugs or Surgery
M.V. Sage reveals her success in dealing with chronic pain.
Putting a face on fibromyalgia
Profound, chronic, widespread pain. Not something most of us would wish on our worst enemy, yet that is what the average fibromyalgia sufferer has to look forward to long term.
Fibromyalgia, a surprisingly common and complex chronic pain disorder, affects an estimated seven to 10 million Americans. It affects women much more than men in an approximate ratio of 20 to one and is seen in all age groups from young children through old age. Most sufferers begin experiencing symptoms in their 20s or 30s. Fibromyalgia affects sufferers physically, mentally and emotionally, and is unique in that it is a syndrome rather than a disease. The difference being unlike a disease, which has a specific cause and recognizable symptoms, fibromyalgia is recognizable by a series of signs, symptoms, and medical problems that generally coexist, but are not clearly related to an easily identifiable cause. Glenda Smith, of Mt. Mesa, was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 1989 at the age of 42. Since then she has had to contend with excruciating pain on a nearly daily basis.
Dr. Oz on Chronic Pain
My mission is to help people live the longest and happiest lives possible, and that means lives that are pain-free. But Americans don’t do pain well. Historically, if people were not in immediate medical danger, their pain was considered an unfortunate side effect or a collateral consequence of solving a greater problem. I was told my job as a cardiac surgeon was to keep a heart beating by any means. Any pain the patient had later was not my focus.
But all that is changing. I am here to tell anyone who suffers from pain each day, whose life is circumscribed and whose goals are slipping out of reach, that you are at last being heard. We are in a pain renaissance.
First, the biology: Pain is actually an intricate interplay along neurotransmitters in the brain and spinal cord. The body produces natural painkillers like serotonin, norepinephrine and opioid-like chemicals. Chronic pain is any pain that persists beyond the usual healing period. Continuous or intermittent, it can consume all aspects of a person’s life.
Second, the numbers: Chronic pain is one of the costliest health problems in the U.S., with an estimated annual price tag of close to $50 billion. Lower-back pain is by far the most common complaint, affecting 70% to 85% of adults at some point and leaving 7 million either partially or severely disabled. Lower-back pain accounts for 93 million workdays lost every year and consumes over $5 billion in health care costs. Arthritis pain affects 40 million Americans, and 45 million suffer from chronic headaches.
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Look-and-Sound-Alike Names Account for Many Painkiller Prescription Errors
Confusion caused by look-alike and sound-alike names contributes to a large number of the painkiller prescription errors that occur in hospitals, U.S. researchers report.
The drug error rate was nearly three per 1,000 prescriptions in hospitals, and error rates were higher when prescribing for children, the study found.
Researchers reviewed 714,290 orders for painkillers in a large database of pharmacist-detected-and-prevented prescribing errors. Each error was evaluated by the following contributing causes: failure to modify therapy based on patient-specific information; inadequate drug therapy knowledge; inappropriate use of a dosage form; mistakes in dose calculations; improper dose for the route of administration; and others.
Breathe Away Pain
Pain is necessary. It alerts us to threats, teaches us to avoid future risks, and makes sure we don’t forget to help ourselves heal. Our bodies have evolved instinctive reactions to pain and injury—accidentally brush your hand against a boiling kettle and your arm will retract reflexively before you even realize why. Our minds, too, respond to pain in a characteristic manner: ever notice how even a minor wound can dominate your thoughts?
But what if you could manipulate your natural response to pain in order to control and alleviate suffering? That approach—aided by a technique known as mindfulness meditation—holds great promise for those experiencing chronic pain.
Though pain usually serves a beneficial purpose, chronic pain—which persists far longer than the usual period for an injury or illness—is pathological. Close to 1 in 3 Americans suffers from chronic pain to varying degrees, according to Penny Cowan, founder and executive director of the American Chronic Pain Association. Headaches and pain from the lower back, cancer, and arthritis are among the more common afflictions.
